ABSTRACT
The emergence of the authoritarian regime under the Shah in the early 1960s led to important changes within the power bloc. The old power bloc, which had been composed of the landed class, and the national commercial bourgeoisie had been in a process of disintegration. The landed class was in dissolution due to the country's transformation from a predominantly agrarian to a semi-industrial society. On the other hand the middle classes were divided. All this contributed to the handing back of political power to the Shall, and to the emergence of a new power bloc. As a result of the economic development and industrialisation programme which aimed at property concentration in industry and a change in the productive structure, the power bloc became dominated by a grand industrial and financial bourgeoisie which had tenuous local and strong international ties. The royal family itself replaced its Crown lands with vast industrial and financial holdings and encouraged the expansion of the upper bourgeoisie. However, the authoritarian regime of the Shah was not a direct class rule, but as a bureaucratic regime it sought to maintain a degree of autonomy from the dominant class interests.1 Thus it established a corporatist political structure in order to encompass and control major class interests. The Shall reached out to the peasantry, the industrial bourgeoisie and the working class for political support. He sought to create a 'rural bourgeoisie' benefiting from the land reforms. By promoting industrialisation, the regime encouraged the emergence of the upper bourgeoisie which prospered in a hot-house fashion. At the same time, it also attempted to create a labour aristocracy'. To subordinate these diverse classes, the Shah turned the New Iran Party (NIP) into a corporatist political organisation seeking to control all classes. The Shah's authoritarian regime was based on five foundations: (a) state control of large financial resources made available through the massive oil billions; (b) the success of the economic stabilisation and growth programme and the intervention of the Shah in the economy to ensure economic stability;(c) intermittent attempts at mass mobilisation and the creation of an equilibrium of classes through their economic control and intervention in the economy; (d) the establishment of patron-client relations with the upper bourgeoisie and the Shah's control of private enterprise through participation in
entrepreneurial activities; and (e) the expansion of the coercive forces of the state, and reliance on Western and especially US support.
